Sum of Floor and Floor of Negative
Theorem
Let $x \in \R$. Then:
- $\left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor + \left \lfloor {-x} \right \rfloor = \begin{cases} 0 & : x \in \Z \\ -1 & : x \notin \Z \end{cases}$
where $\left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor$ is the floor of $x$.
Proof
- Let $x \in \Z$.
Then $x = \left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor$ from Integer Equals Floor And Ceiling.
Now $x \in \Z \implies -x \in \Z$, so $\left \lfloor {-x} \right \rfloor = -x$.
Thus $\left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor + \left \lfloor {-x} \right \rfloor = x + \left({-x}\right) = x - x = 0$.
- Now suppose $x \notin \Z$.
From Real Number is Floor plus Difference, $x = n + t$, where $n = \left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor$ and $t \in \left[{0 .. 1}\right)$.
Thus, $-x = - \left({n + t}\right) = -n - t = -n - 1 + \left({1 - t}\right)$.
As $t \in \left[{0 .. 1}\right)$, we have $1 - t \in \left[{0 .. 1}\right)$.
Thus $\left \lfloor {-x} \right \rfloor = -n - 1$.
So $\left \lfloor {x} \right \rfloor + \left \lfloor {-x} \right \rfloor = n + \left({-n - 1}\right) = n - n - 1 = -1$.
$\blacksquare$
Sources
- Thomas A. Whitelaw: An Introduction to Abstract Algebra (1978)... (previous)... (next): Exercise $2.1$